Coin controlled dispensing and signal apparatus



May l0, 1938.y J. w. CALVI-:RT

COIN CONTROLLED DISPENSING AND SIGNAL APPARATUS Filed Jan. 9,' 1956 l glulm.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 My 1o, 193s. J. w. CALVERT 2,117,144

COIN CONTROLLED DISPENSING AND SIGNAL APPARATUS Filed Jan. 9, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4. 0' zz) 'Eg 15) fz'lzo [1.9 /24 y /VX/ 1/ A lr/ /J'/ /y //1 JameJWCaZveZ/' Patented May 10, 1938 PATENT OFFICE COIN CONTROLLED DISPENSING AND SIGNAL APPARATUS James Wallace Calvert,

Baltimore, Md., assignor to Charles E. S. Townsend, Baltimore, Md.

Application January 9, 1936, Serial No. 58,402

11 Claims.

The invention includes coin controlled dispensing apparatus and coin controlled signal means indicating that at certain periods in the operation of the machine the operator is entitled to receive a commodity free of charge.

The invention consists in the features and combination andarrangement of parts hereinn after described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings Figure l is a vertical sectional View of part of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of coin controlled mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View showing the delivery Wheel.

Fig. 4 is a developed View of the coin wheel and impelling means.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view with parts in elevation at right angles to Fig. 1 showing braking mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a plan View of the braking mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional View on line 'I-'l of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section on line 8-8 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a front view of the casing of the appae ratus.

Fig. 10 is a sideview of a detail.

v Fig. 11 is a plan View of a detail.

The invention includes a wheel Ill to be impelled by the coins, fixed to the upper end of a vertical shaft II which at its lower end carries a delivery wheel I2 for the articles. This wheel IIJ also serves as a means for moving or transporting the coins from the inlet opening I3 to the chute I4 which delivers the coins to a suitable receptacle, within the casing, Where they are held under lock and key.

This coin wheel is provided with a row of spaced apart projections lil' along the upper edge of its periphery, the wheel being disposed in a horizontal plane, and along the lower edge portion of its periphery the wheel or disc is provided with another row of projections l5 substantially vertically in line with the adjacent teeth or projections of the upper row first mentioned. These lower teeth are spaced apart from the upper projections, the said space being indicated at I'I. These lower projections I5 are also spaced from each other a distance circumferentially of the wheel to correspond substantially to the spacing between the upper projections, the latter spacing being indicated at I8. A coin impelling member I9 is in the form of a circular plate or cover having a flange depending from its plate portion 2|, and this impelling member iits down over the wheel or disc ICI with its flangeextending down alongside of the said coin transporting wheel so as to enclose the same together with its rows of upper and lower projections, and the 5 coins lying against the periphery of the wheel. The coin impelling member has a central opening receiving the upper end of the vertical shaft I I, to turn thereon and its ange finds a' bearing upon the surface of a bracket or bearing plate 22 forming a part of the xed casing in which the shaft bears at its upper end. The coin impelling or cover plate is held in position by a collar 23 fixed by a screw to the upper end of the shaft. This coin impelling member has a finger piece 24 by which it may be operated. It is returned to normal position ready for operation by a spring 25.

The coin impelling member is provided with a coin slot I3' in its top through which the coins may be introduced to fall into the spaces I8 between the circumferentially spaced apart projecticns of the upper and lower rows. That is to say when a coin is iirst introduced it rests with its lower edge upon the surface or plat- 25 form 29 of the bracket or frame plate 22 with its upper edge slightly above the upper surface or edge of the disc or wheel Ill, and therefore within the coin slot of the coin impelling member. This impelling plate or cover has an inwardly extending projection 30 from its iiange which moves, when the impelling member is turned by the iinger lever, against the pressure of its spring, in a horizontal plane between the horizontal planes of the upper row of projections IB and the lower row of projections I 5, so that said impelling projection will engage the edge of the coin about mi-dway of the height thereof, which coin will be moved forward in the direction of the arrow Fig. 2, towards its delivery point into the coin chute leading to the collection box or chamber. In this moving under the impelling action of the projection 30 the coin by contacting the upper projection of the wheel or disc I0, which lies in front of it, or substantially on the opposite side of the coin from where the impelling projection engages it, will carry the said disc or wheel along with it a distance equal to the forward stroke of the impelling member or cover plate. consequent upon the manual operation of said cover plate. This forward movement is limited by the finger lever striking the projection 3| on the xed bracket or frame member 22, and is enough to carry the coin only part way on its travel to its delivery point into the chute. At the end of this forward movement of the coin it will have arrived over a runway or path at; 32 on the upper side of the bracket 22, which path is defined by an edge rim -or flange 33 extending up therefrom, and curved concentrically to the vertical axis of the wheel. The bottom of this runway or path is in a lower plane than the platform 29 of the bracket and the coin will move downwardly edgewise into this runway and rest upon the bottom thereof when the impelling wheel moves the coin far enough ahead for this purpose. pelling member will move back to inoperative position under the action of its spring, the coin now being completely below the plane of the under surface of the impelling plate or wheel. The

coin falls by gravity to this low position as soon as it is relieved of the pressure of the impelling projection 3U, which holds or presses the coin between itself and the projection or projectionsI of the wheel at the front edge of the coin.

The coin wheel I0 is prevented from moving backward by a ratchet wheel I6 xed on the vertical shaft Il, which is engaged by a detent 23 pressed by a spring 28x into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet.

'I'he projection 30 of the impelling disc or wheel being located in a horizontal plane between the upper and lower rows of projections on the wheel I 0 will engage the coin at about the middle of the height of its rear edge while its front edge will be contacting with the lugs or projections in advance of it. One forward stroke of the impelling member will be sufficient to move the coin from the receiving platform 29 of the frame or bracket to a point where it will move down into the runway. When the impelling wheel is again moved by reason of the next coin introduced, the coin first mentioned will be impelled along therunway, while still positioned vertically on edge, this action being due to the projection of the lower row contacting the rear edge of the said coin at a point sufliciently high thereon t0 insure a proper propelling action without displacing the coin. The pathway on the frame for the coins is long enough to hold a number of coins before they reach the chute which directs them into the coin collecting receptacle so that this chute may be 10- cated out of the way and at a point towards the back of the machine, leaving the entire front free for the display of the goods through any suitable arrangement of transparent panel. When the coin is traversing this pathway its upper edge will be slightly below the upper surface of the wheel, or disc, so that it will not be in contactwith the under side of the cover plate or disc. While the coin is on that part of the pathway which is referred to above as the platform 2.9-, its upper edge will reach above the plane of the top side of the wheel or disc IB and into the coin slot of the cover plate or initial impelling disc, the forward movement of the coin, however, beingv due as above described to the contact of the lug or projection 30 therewith.

The structure described provides a full stroke impelling mechanism, that is toy say, the impelling member once started on its forward stroke, with the coin in its slot, and borne upon by the projection 30, and in turn bearing upon the projection I0 of the wheel l0, will have to complete its forward stroke before itr can return to its normal position. This is due to the fact that the detent 28 holds the shaft I l and the coin wheel l l!" against backward turning. The lugs on wheel I0 prevent the coin from moving backward and the When the finger lever is released the imcoin reaching up into the coin slot of the impelling member acts as a stop to prevent backward movement of said impelling memberfand this function of the coin in locking the impelling member against backward movement will persist until the coin drops to its lower level i. e. into the runway 32. When this happens the coin no longer will be in position to be contacted by the forward wall of the com slot in the imnelliv-f member, and hence said member then can return to normal position.

vIn order to prevent over-throw of the coin wheel a brake may be applied to the shaft Il. This consists of a brake surface I6 on the periphery of the ratchet wheel I6, which surface is engagedby arms 34 pivotally mounted at 35 to a frame part, said arms being drawn towards each other by a spring 3B make the arms bear frictionally upon the brake surface. The detent 28 is mounted upon one of the arms or brake levers 34 and the spring 28x connects with a stud 31 on the detent and a stud 38 on one of the brake levers.

The delivery wheel I2 is fixed to the lower portion of the shaft Il. It has arms 39 radiating from the shaft which move over the bottom 40 of a circular depressionY 40m in the bottom wall 4| of the hopper or container 42 for articles to be delivered, such for instance as nuts.. I'he spaces between these radiating arms receive the nuts from the stack of such articles in the hopper and transmit them to a suitable discharge opening, which leads to an outer side of the casing and is protected by a flap 43.

The radiating delivery arms have bevelled upper edges which slope rearwardly, or in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said arms. They pass under a plate 44 forming a part of the bottom of the hopper., and because of the rearwardly sloping upper edge faces ofthe arms any nut which has a tendency to-be caught by the plate will slip freely down the incline of the bevelled upper edge of the delivery arm as this passes beneath said plate. The bottom ofthe receptacle for holding the nuts or other articles inclines downwardly from all sides to the central depression 40x. There is a portion of the bottom wall that is more sharply inclined at 4|', the` inner edge of which is at about the level of the upper edges of the radiating arms so that excess nuts at the outer ends of the radiating arms will move up this incline and away from av'position where they might otherwise be caught.

At each operation of the apparatus an article or a quantity of articles will be delivered bearing a prescribed relation in value to-the value of the coin introduced.

Upon the operation of the apparatus a prescribed number of times, or in other words, when a prescribed number of coins have been introduced and the apparatus operated accordingly, it is an object of the invention to give something of value, in addition to the value of the articles already dispensed. This bonus or extra value may assume various forms, for instance, a certain amount of candy or a glass of soda, beer, or the like. This will not be. dispensed by the machine itself, but the machine will display a sign or give a signal that the operator of the apparatus, having put in all of the ten pennies, or the last one of the series of ten pennies, is entitled to the extra commodity. This display of the signal will' occur at regular intervalsl in the operation of the machine. For instance, at every tenth operation a projection 45 on the coin wheel will operate an arm 46 pivoted to the frame and said arm will cause the signal or sign to make an indication that the operator of the apparatus is entitled to the extra commodity, which will be delivered to him by the proprietor of the shop in which the apparatus is installed. This may be in a candy store, restaurant or other public place. The projection 45 passes onwar-d after operating the signal arm and then the sign may be restored to its position of rest out of sight by operating a lever, chain or like device such as shown at 46', which is accessible to the operator of the apparatus by passing through an opening 46 in the casing. The sign, if such indicating means is used, is displayed through a window 4l, and is inaccessible except for its operation by the chain to restore it to its hidden position.

The effect of the upper and lower row of projecticns spaced apart circumferentially about the rotary member is to provide coin receiving recesses around the periphery of said member, said recesses, however, enabling the impelling projection to move horizontally at an intermediate height of said recesses to engage the rear edges of the coins.

So far as the control exerted by the coins is concerned, this terminates as soon as the coin drops from the upper level of the xed support or runway, because this particular coin no longer performs any function of moving the rotary member or the dispensing wheel attached to the lower end of the shaft. Following this dropping action the coin is itself carried along the lower level of its support or runway by the step by step movement of the rotary member until the coin drops into the chute arranged at a point distant from the front display panel of the apparatus.

The parts are so coordinated that as soon as the impelling member is released by the operator and has begun its movement back to normal position, the coin will be released from the pressure of the impelling lug and it will be free to drop downwardly, and thus its upper edge will no longer act to prevent the return of the impelling member to its initial position. For this purpose also there is a slight amount of lost motion allowed by the length of the coin slot in the im pelling member before the front edge of the slot could strike the coin. This insures the complete release of the coin when this has been moved to a point where its lower edge is no longer resting upon the xed support.

The flange of the impelling member may have an inspection opening therethrough as at a.

The backward movement of the impelling member to initial position is limited by the projection b` acting as a stop to the nger lever.

I claim:

l. Coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary member having on its periphery upper and lower rows of spaced apart projections, said rows being spaced apart from each other, and with projections of one row substantially in line vertically with the projections of the other row, an impelling member above the said rotary member oscillatable about the vertical axis of the rotary member having a coin slot to register sequentially, in normal position, with the vertical spaces or recesses between the projections, said impelling member having a projection movable in a plane intermediate the planes of the upper and lower rows of projections to engage the rear edge of a coin held vertically on edge in the vertical spaces between projections of said rotary member whereby the rotary member will be moved by the coin bearing upon a projection thereof in front of said coin when the impelling member is moved forward.

2. Coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary member having spaced apart recesses on its periphery for receiving coins individually, an impelling member having a coin slot to direct the coins to said recesses, and having means to contact the rear edges of the coin for moving them forward, and giving forward movement to the rotary member by Contact of the front edge of the coin therewith, said coins resting vertically on edge upon a support having two levels, the higher level receiving the coin when first introduced and the lower level receiving the coin after it, together with the rotary member, has been moved by the impelling member so that said coin can drop onto the lower level and thus free the impelling member for the return of the latter to normal position, substantially as described.

3. Coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary coin carrier member peripherally recessed to receive coins individually and turning about a vertical axis, an impelling member to engage the rear edge of a coin to move the same forward, and thereby move the rotary coin carrier member, a carrier for said impelling member overlying the rotary coin carrier member and receiving the upper edge of the coin to lock the carriers together, said impelling member and its carrier being horizontally disposed about said vertical axis and having limited forward and backward movement to thereby, through contact with the successively introduced coins, impart a step by step movement to the rotary coin carrier member, said coins successively dropping by gravity from the rotary coin carrier member, said rotary coin carrier member having radiating projections forming the said recesses within which the coins lie in planes substantially tangential to the periphery of said member.

4. Coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary member having recesses on its periphery to receive coins vertically on edge, said recesses being defined by upper and lower rows of projections spaced apart both vertically and circumferentially of the rotary member, a runway on which the coins rest vertically on edge while in said recesses, an oscillatory impelling member having means for contacting the rear edge of the coin to move it forwardly, said coin contacting with one of the upper projections on its forward movement to impart a forward movement to the rotary member, said runway having a low level portion onto which the coin will drop to a level in front of the lower projection immediately in rear of it to be moved onward thereby, substantially as described.

5. A coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary member having means to engage a coin set up on edge, a fixed support upon which the coin is moved, an impelling member having means to engage the rear edge of the coin to move it forward and thereby move the rotary member, said impelling member having a flange to maintain the coin vertically on edge in engagement with said rotary member, substantially as described.

6. Coin controlled mechanism according to claim 5 in which the impelling member is mounted coaxially with the rotary member and has oscillatory movement, substantially as described.

7.V Coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary member movable step by step forwardly, detent means for preventing retrograde movement of said member, said member having recesses around its periphery to receive in succession coins that are introduced, an impelling member having forward and backward limited movement and engageable with the rear edge of a coin positioned vertically on edge in a recess of the rotary member, means for limiting the movement of said impelling member, said impelling member having a coin slot to direct a coin to a recess of the rotary member when said impelling member is in retracted position, and means for supporting the coin on edge while in the recess of the rotary member, and with'the upper edge thereof in the coin slot to resist backward movement of the impelling member, said coin dropping from said support when it reaches the end thereof to thereby release the impelling member for the return thereof to normal position, substantially as described.

8. Coin controlled means according to claim 7 in which the recesses in the periphery of the rotary member are provided by spaced apart projections, for contact with the coin, said impelling member having a projection to engage the coin for forcing the same forwardly and thereby Inoving the rotary member, substantially as descibed.

9. Coin controlled mechanism comprising a rotary member rotating in a horizontal plane, a forwardly and backwardly movable impelling member engaging the coin to move it forward, said coin contacting thev rotary member to move it forward, means for holding the rotary member against backward movement, means for holding the coin up at a prescribed level relative to said horizontal plane to maintain engagement with the impelling member, said coin while so held up locking the impelling member against backward movementV until a prescribed forward position of said coin relative to said holding means is reached, at which prescribed position said holding means terminates and no longer holds the coin up, said coin then dropping to unlock the impelling member for its return to normal position, and means for directing the coin to lie with its flat side in a plane substantially tangential to the periphery of said rotary member and between projections radiating from said rotary member, said directing means consisting in a slot in a portion of the impelling means, substantially as described.

l0. Coin controlled apparatus comprising a rotary member, a vertical shaft from which said rotary member is mounted to rotate in a horizontal plane, said rotary member having recesses in its peripheral face to receive coins with the side faces thereof to rest against the peripheral face of said member, a manually operable device having means to engage the rear edge of a coin in the recess for operating said rotary member through the medium of said coin, said recesses being adapted to allow the coins to pass downwardly therefrom, and a fixed support upon which the coins rest on edge while in the recesses, and from which support the coins drop downwardly when moved away therefrom by the rotary member, said manually operable device having a portion overlying said rotary member and having a coin slot therein, said fixed support holding the coins with their upper edges in the coin slot to lock the manually operable member against return to normal position until the coins have been moved 01T from said support, substantially as described.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 in which the manually operable member is mounted to turn coaxially with the said rotary member and a ange reaching down alongside of the periphery of the rotary member to maintain the coins on edgeand lying in the recesses, substantially as described.

JAMES WALLACE CALVERT. 

